(For Static’s usual snark and humor, check our next item. This one is straight public service.) On any fair-weather weekend in Fort Worth, it’s not hard to find a charity car wash going on somewhere – usually a bunch of enthusiastic teens and a few parents in a parking lot, waving people over with posters about their athletic team, booster club, or the high school French Club’s trip to Paris.
The one on Jacksboro Highway last weekend, however, was a lot sadder and even more deserving. Family and friends of Enrique and Christine Rincon turned out with the buckets and sponges to raise money to cover the funeral expenses of 8-year-old Jean-Luc Rincon, who died of complications from neurofibromatosis on July 27.
Greenwood Funeral Home, where Jean-Luc’s services will be held on Wednesday, allowed the family to make arrangements without paying first, as long as they have the money before the funeral. As of Monday, they had raised about $2,400 and needed another $600 to cover the bill.
Jean-Luc went to Castleberry Elementary School. The Make-A-Wish Foundation took him to Disneyworld in March. His grandmother, Maria Lopez, described Jean-Luc as an exceptional, mature little boy. “He was a very strong little person. He was a fighter,” she said. “He always thought of others, even under the circumstances.” The “circumstances” would have tried the character of many an older person. Jean-Luc’s genetic disorder causes tumors to grow on the covering of the nerves in various parts of the body. Last August, malignant tumors were discovered in his stomach; they spread to his arteries and then to his heart.
Enrique Rincon is a salesman, and his wife is a certified nurse assistant; they had no health insurance, but Jean-Luc qualified for Medicaid, which covered most of the medical bills. Social workers at Cook Children’s Hospital arranged help for the family with utility bills. Now they could use a little more help from the rest of us.
Those wishing to contribute to Jean-Luc’s funeral costs may contact Greenwood Funeral Home at 817-336-0584; there is an account set up in his name.
Gasbillies
One, two … Come listen to a story ’bout a man named Mike, a rich city mayor with a big gas strike. Then one day he was sticking out his hand, inviting gas drillers to come and screw our land. … Mayor Mike and his tail-wagging minions have made it clear that it’s open season on Fort Worth for drillers. They feel there’s too much money to be made to worry much about the impact on the environment, our quality of life, and infrastructure. Truth is, most residents will personally receive little or no money from the gas boom. But if deals are made with the devil and wheelbarrows of money are on their way to city hall, taxpayers who are eating the driller’s dust might as well get vocal on how the money’s spent.
You want potholes fixed? Code enforcement increased? Lakes dredged? Mayors impeached? Then mark your calendar for 7 p.m. Aug. 20. Mayor Pro-tem Kathleen Hicks will be at the Will Rogers Memorial Center’s South Texas Room soliciting input. “We have a lot of needs in this city and need to see a tangible benefit from the drilling,” she said in e-mail urging residents to attend. Static’s suggestion: Improve the public green spaces and add more of them, diversify our public transportation systems, and keep Fort Worth beautiful – not an easy task when drillers are eyeballing the city like a goat looking at a new turnip patch.
